1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to head and neck wear, specifically a garment which can be worn in a variety of positions to provide adjustable protection.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Outdoor activity during cold weather can subject a person to uncomfortable, and potentially dangerous exposure, and heat loss from the head and neck areas. While this problem can be solved by wearing traditional hats and scarves, we sought to improve on hats and scarves by designing a simple, one-piece, adjustable head and neck garment.
Numerous styles of knitted hats provide head, neck, and face protection. Examples of this style include U.S. Pat. No. 2,998,611, "Cuffed Cap and Face Hood and Method of Forming", U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,124, "Cap and Face Hood, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,838,467, "Cap and Elastic Face Hood". While these designs provide adjustable head and neck protection by including a neck and face covering which telescopes into the cap portion, they are all of knitted construction. Disadvantages of knitted construction include: 1. The tight fit flattens the wearer's hair, creating an unattractive appearance when the cap is removed. 2. The knit provides less wind, rain, and snow protection than modern outerwear fabrics.
Other designs such as U.S. Pat. No. 2,839,757 "Head Covering Garment", and U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,417, "Convertible Survival Cap" provide adjustable neck and face protection by including material which covers the neck and or face. These garments can be constructed of water and wind proof fabrics, thus providing better protection than knitted garments. They do still require a tight fitting cap which flattens the wearer's hair.
All of the aforementioned garments and other similar existing designs provide some degree of flexibility in the coverage of the neck and face areas. Such designs do not provide much flexibility in the head coverage; the wearer may be able to adjust the ear coverage, but must keep the cap on the top of the head at all times. Such designs also require a tight fitting cap portion to hold the garment on the head. The tight fit flattens the wearer's hair, creating an unattractive appearance when the garment is removed. This effect causes many people, especially females, to avoid wearing such garments.
Traditional hood garments can solve the aforementioned problems with cap garments by being constructed of weather proof materials and providing a looser fit on the head. Disadvantages of traditional hoods include: 1. Such garments are commonly attached to a jacket or coat, thus can not be worn separately. 2. The shape of the head and face portions limits the wearing positions to either completely over the head, or completely off the head. The traditional shape, characterized by right angle relationships between the back, top, and front (face) portions of the hood creates this limitation.